Anti-fingerprinting systems and methods for automated task performance

ABSTRACT

Computer-implemented methods and systems are provided for automatically performing a task on a remote computer. During a registration stage, the system receives personal information of a human user, obtains an IP address and a device configuration for a computing device, and stores the personal information, IP address, and the device configuration in record in a database. The system receives a request to interact with a remote website to perform a task, the request including the personal information of the human user. The system then retrieves the record from the database using the personal information. The system creates a virtual machine based on the device configuration for the computing device, selects one of a geographically distributed set of proxy servers having an IP geographically address resembling the IP address for the computing device, and executes instructions causing the virtual machine to interact with the remote website using the proxy server to perform the task.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e)to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/528,030, filed Jun. 30, 2017, andentitled “Neural Network Systems and Methods for Reservation Rebooking,”which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments concern the use of anti-fingerprintingtechnologies to defeat bot identification and blocking software. Morespecifically, the disclosed embodiments concern the application ofneural networks and anti-fingerprinting technologies to automatedperformance of tasks on remote websites. The disclosed embodiments alsoconcern the use of neural networks to parse emails and comparedescriptions of items.

BACKGROUND

Accommodation, travel, and entertainment services are often reserved inadvance of consumption of these services. However, providers of theseservices often lower prices to move unsold inventory prior to thereservation date. Sometimes, these providers allow customers to canceltheir reservations without paying a fee or penalty. Customers wouldbenefit from an automated rebooking service that monitored reservations,determined whether equivalent inventory was available for rebooking at alower price, and offer customers the opportunity to cancel theirexisting reservations and rebook at this lower price.

However, technical problems have inhibited the development of suchservices. First, an automated rebooking service must know each user'scurrent reservations. The service should be aware of these currentreservations without the user having to describe them to the service(e.g., by filling out a form listing parameters describing the service).Second, an automated rebooking service must be able to compare eachuser's current reservations to available inventory items. Theseavailable inventory items may be obtained from different sources thanthe source of the original information. Therefore, even though theunderlying inventory may be the same, it may be described differently.Thus automated rebooking service must be able to accommodate varying andinconsistent description of inventory across different sources ofinformation. Additionally, websites of online booking agencies andservice providers may be configured to identify and block requests fromautomated programs that run over the internet. Such blocking may limitthe usefulness of an automated rebooking service.

Accordingly, a need exists for an automated rebooking service that canoffer customers the opportunity to automatically rebook reservationswhile overcoming the technical problems that limit existing approaches.

SUMMARY

The disclosed embodiments can use neural networks to identifyreservation emails, parse reservation emails for reservation parametersthat describe reserved inventory, identify inventory parameters thatdescribe available inventory items, and determine available inventoryitems equivalent to the reserved inventory item based on the extractedreservation parameters and inventory parameters. Furthermore, thedisclosed embodiments can store user identities associating users withdevice configurations and IP addresses of users. The disclosedembodiments can use these stored user identities to imitate human userswhen automatically cancelling reservations, preventing identificationand blocking of automatic cancellation requests using bot-detectionsoftware.

The disclosed embodiments include a system for automatically performingtasks on a remote website. This system can include at least oneprocessor and at least one memory containing instructions. When executedby the at least one processor, the instructions can cause the system toperform operations. These operations can include obtaining an IP addressand a device configuration of a first computing device of a human user.These operations can further include selecting a second computing devicefor imitating the human user based on the device configuration of thefirst computing device. The operations can additionally includeselecting a proxy server based on the IP address for the first computingdevice. And the operations can also include causing the second computingdevice to interact with a remote website using the proxy server toperform a task.

The operations can further include, in some aspects, receiving a requestto interact with the remote website to perform the task. The request canindicate the IP address and the device configuration of the firstcomputing device.

The operations can also include, in various aspects, receiving personalinformation of the human user and storing a record in a databaseincluding the personal information, the IP address information of thefirst computing device, and the device configuration information of thefirst computing device. Additionally, these operations can includedetermining the personal information from the request and retrieving therecord from the database using the personal information in response tothe request.

The request can include an email from the human user and the personalinformation can include an email address of the human user, in someaspects. The request can include a text message from the human user andthe personal information can include a phone number of the human user,in various aspects. The request can include, in some aspects, secondcomputing device instructions for executing the task. The operations canfurther include, in various embodiments, determining second computingdevice instructions for executing the task based on the request.

The device configuration for first the computing device can be obtainedfrom a user-agent header field of the first computing device, in someaspects. The device configuration for the first computing device caninclude, in various aspects, operating system information and browserinformation for the first computing device.

The second computing device can include, in some aspects, a virtualmachine having the device configuration the first computing device. Invarious aspects, selecting the second computing device can includecreating the virtual machine. The second computing device can have thesame make and model as the first computing device, in some aspects.Causing the second computing device to interact with the remote websiteusing the proxy server to perform the task can include remotelyconnecting to the second computing device, in various aspects.

The operations can further include, in various aspects, determining thegeographic location of the first computing device of the human userbased on the IP address for the first computing device. The proxy servercan be selected, in some aspects, based on geographic proximity to firstthe computing device. In various aspects, an IP address of the proxyserver can be in the same subnet range as the IP address of the firstcomputing device.

The disclosed embodiments include a method for interacting with a remotewebsite to perform an automatic task. This method can include, during aregistration stage, receiving personal information of a human user,obtaining an IP address and a device configuration for a computingdevice, and storing a record in a database, the record including thepersonal information, the IP address, and the device configuration. Themethod can further include receiving a request to interact with a remotewebsite to perform a task, the request including the personalinformation. The method can also include retrieving the record from thedatabase using the personal information and creating a virtual machinebased on the device configuration. The method can further includeselecting a proxy server from a geographically distributed set of proxyservers based on the IP address for the computing device and the IPaddresses for the set of proxy servers. The selected proxy server can bethe proxy server of the set that is closest to the computing device. Andthe method can include executing instructions causing the virtualmachine to interact with the remote website through the selected proxyserver to perform the task.

As discussed above with regard to other embodiments, in some aspects therequest can include an email from the human user and the personalinformation can include an email address of the human user. In variousaspects the request can include a text message from the human user andthe personal information can include a phone number of the human user.In some aspects, the request can include the instructions, and the setof proxy servers can be geographically distributed among multiplecities.

The disclosed embodiments include a system including at least oneprocessor and at least one non-transitory memory containinginstructions. When executed by the at least one processor, theinstructions cause the system to perform operations. The operationsinclude generating reservation parameters from a reservation emailconcerning a reserved inventory item using first neural networks. Theoperations further include generating sets of inventory parameters foravailable inventory items using the first neural networks. Theoperations also include determining a first available inventory itemusing a second neural network, the sets of inventory parameters, and thereservation parameters. The operations further include requesting afirst booking system reserve the first available inventory item. And theoperations also include requesting a second booking system cancel areservation of the reserved inventory item.

Determining a first available inventory item using a second neuralnetwork, the sets of the inventory parameters, and the reservationparameters can include, in some aspects, generating comparison featuresin part using the reservation parameters and a first set of theinventory parameters for the first available inventory item. Thisdetermination can also include generating a first similarity value forthe first available inventory item using the second neural network andthe comparison features, and determining the first similarity valueexceeds a predetermined similarity threshold. The comparison featurescan be generated, in some aspects, in part based on comparisons of thereservation email and the converted available inventory items.

Determining the first available inventory item using the second neuralnetwork, the sets of the inventory parameters, and the reservationparameters can further include generating a second similarity valueexceeding the predetermined similarity threshold for a second inventoryitem, and determining the first similarity value exceeds the secondsimilarity value.

The operations can include, in some aspects, determining additionalavailable inventory items using the second neural network. Theoperations can also include determining price decreases and/orreputation increases as compared to the reserved inventory item for thefirst available inventory item and the additional available inventoryitems. And the operations can further include determining a pricedecrease and/or reputation increase for the first available inventoryitem exceeds price decreases and/or reputation increases for theadditional available inventory items.

Generating the sets of the inventory parameters for the availableinventory items using the first neural networks can include, in someaspects, receiving the available inventory items in a first format andconverting the available inventory items to a second format of thereservation email. This generation can also include extracting potentialinventory parameters corresponding to inventory parameters from theconverted available inventory items. And this generation can furtherinclude selecting as the inventory parameters ones of the potentialinventory parameters based on assessment values for the potentialinventory parameters generated using the first neural networks.Generating the assessment values using the first neural networks canalso include, in various aspects, generating feature vectors from thepotential inventory parameters and inputting the feature vectors to thefirst neural networks to generate the assessment values. In someaspects, the first format can be JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) andthe second format can be a markup language.

Generating the reservation parameters from the reservation emailconcerning the reserved inventory item using the first neural networkscan include, in some aspects, extracting potential reservationparameters corresponding to a first reservation parameter from thereservation email. This generation can also include generatingassessment values for the potential reservation parameters using thepotential reservation parameters and a one of the first neural networkscorresponding to the first reservation parameter. This generation canalso include determining a greatest assessment value of the assessmentvalues, the greatest assessment value exceeding a predeterminedassessment threshold and corresponding to a first one of the potentialreservation parameters. And this generation can further includeselecting the first one of the potential reservation parameters as thefirst reservation parameter. The potential reservation parameters can beextracted from the reservation email using one or more rulescorresponding to the first reservation parameter, in various aspects.Generating the assessment values for the potential reservationparameters using the potential reservation parameters and the one of thefirst neural networks corresponding to the first reservation parametercan include, in some aspects, generating feature vectors from thepotential reservation parameters and inputting the feature vectors tothe one of the first neural networks.

Generating the reservation parameters from the reservation email usingthe first neural networks can further include, in some aspects,generating a feature vector from the reservation email, and determininga cancellation policy using a third neural network and the featurevector.

The operations of the system can further include, in some aspects,retrieving the reservation email from an email system of the user.Retrieving the reservation email from the email system of the user caninclude, in various aspects, querying the email system of the useraccording to reservation email rules. Retrieving the reservation emailfrom the email system of the user can include, in some aspects,retrieving emails from the email system of the user, generating featurevectors from the retrieved emails, and generating selection values forthe emails using a third neural network and the feature vectors. Andthis retrieval can also include selecting one of the retrieved emailshaving a selection value exceeding a predetermined threshold as thereservation email.

The operations of the system can further include, in some aspects,notifying the user of the similar one of the available inventory items.The notification can display select reservation parameters, selectinventory parameters, and a rebooking control in various aspects.

The reserved inventory item can be provided, in some aspects, by a firstservice provider and the first available inventory items can be providedby a second service provider. A single booking system can include thefirst booking system and the second booking system, in various aspects.In some aspects, the reserved inventory item can be an accommodationservice, a travel service, or an entertainment service.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the disclosed embodiments, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings are not necessarily to scale or exhaustive. Instead,emphasis is generally placed upon illustrating the principles of theembodiments described herein. The accompanying drawings, which areincorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrateseveral embodiments consistent with the disclosure and, together withthe description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. Inthe drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary system for reservationrebooking.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for reservation rebooking.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts of exemplary reservation identificationprocesses.

FIG. 4A depicts an exemplary reservation confirmation email.

FIG. 4B depicts exemplary computer code for generating the reservationconfirmation email of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4C depicts exemplary reservation parameters extracted from thereservation confirmation email of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary reservation parsing process.

FIGS. 6A and 6B depict exemplary data structures and pseudocode for usein reservation parsing.

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method for training a neuralnetwork used for reservation parsing.

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary graphical user interface for training aneural network used for reservation parsing.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an exemplary inventory selection process.

FIGS. 10A and 10B depict an exemplary graphical user interfaces fordisplaying a rebooking option.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an exemplary automated cancellation process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for generating acancellation function.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, discussedwith regards to the accompanying drawings. In some instances, the samereference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the followingdescription to refer to the same or like parts. Unless otherwisedefined, technical and/or scientific terms have the meaning commonlyunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The disclosedembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understoodthat other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be madewithout departing from the scope of the disclosed embodiments. Thus thematerials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and are notintended to be necessarily limiting.

Rebooking System

The disclosed systems and methods enable automatic monitoring andidentification of rebooking opportunities. The user enables the service,providing access to an email address. The system then monitors the emailaddress, identifying reservation confirmation emails. Using machinelearning, the emails are parsed to extract reservation parameters. Thesystem monitors the price of equivalent inventory, and alerts the userwhen equivalent inventory at lower prices become available. Should theuser choose to rebook the reservation, the system automatically booksthe new inventory and cancels the prior reservation. In someembodiments, the system can automatically rebook the reservation withoutinput from the user.

This system improves upon existing systems and methods because the userdoes not have to forward confirmation emails or specify reservationparameters. Consistent with disclosed embodiments, these improvementscan be implemented using specific technological solutions to problems ofparsing reservations, identifying equivalent inventory, and masking theautomated nature of cancellation requests. Furthermore, the envisionedsystems can submit cancellation requests using virtual machinesconfigured to mimic the configuration of the user's system. This mimicrycan prevent websites running bot-detection software from blocking thecancellation requests, providing a technical solution necessarily rootedin computer technology to overcome a specific internet-centric problem.

Though discussed herein with respect to a system for rebookingaccommodation reservations, the disclosed systems and methods may alsobe used for reservations concerning other inventory, such as travelreservations (e.g., airplane, train, cruise ship, bus, or rental carreservations, etc.), entertainment reservations (e.g., tickets toconcerts, sporting events, amusement parks, meal vouchers, drinkvouchers, etc.), or any other refundable reservation for a good orservice purchased, selected, chosen, and/or reserved (herein referred toas a “reserved inventory item”) in advance of consumption of the good orservice.

FIG. 1 is a schematic of an exemplary system for reservation rebooking(system 100), consistent with disclosed embodiments. In someembodiments, system 100 can comprise a rebooking system 110, an emailsystem 120, a new booking system 130, and a prior booking system 140.These components may communicate with each other, or with other systems,using a network 150. Rebooking system 110 can be configured to retrievereservation, receipt, confirmation, or similar emails concerninginventory items (herein referred to as “reservation emails”) from emailsystem 120 concerning a reserved inventory item, query new bookingsystem 130 for available inventory items similar to the reservedinventory item (referred to herein as “similar inventory items”), andautomatically communicate (i) directly with new booking system 130 toreserve the similar inventory items and (ii) indirectly with priorbooking system 140 to cancel the reservation for the reserved inventoryitem. In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 can notify the user ofone or more similar inventory items before performing the rebooking.Rebooking system 110 can perform the rebooking upon receiving permissionfrom the user. In various embodiments, rebooking system 110 may beconfigured to perform the rebooking without notifying or receivingpermission from the user.

Rebooking system 110 may include one or more computing devices, such asservers, workstations, desktop computers, or special-purpose computingdevices. Rebooking system 110 may be a standalone system, or it may bepart of a subsystem, which may be part of a larger system. Rebookingsystem 110 may comprise one or more applications and/or services. Thecomputing devices can be configured to execute these applications and/orservices to perform the functions described herein. For example,rebooking system 110 can be hosted on a cloud computing platform, suchas AMAZON WEB SERVICES, SOFTLAYER, and MICROSOFT CLOUD. As an additionalexample, rebooking system 110 can be hosted on a workstation to performthe functions described herein.

Email system 120 may include one or more computing devices, such asservers, workstations, desktop computers, or special-purpose computingdevices. Email system 120 may be a standalone system, or it may be partof a subsystem, which may be part of a larger system. Email system 120can be configured to host one or more email accounts, such as an emailaccount of a user. For example, email system 120 may comprise an emailsystem such as OUTLOOK.COM, MICROSOFT EXCHANGE, GMAIL, YAHOO! MAIL,ICLOUD, or similar email system.

New booking system 130 may include one or more computing devices, suchas servers, workstations, desktop computers, or special-purposecomputing devices. New booking system 130 may be a standalone system, orit may be part of a subsystem, which may be part of a larger system. Newbooking system 130 may be configured to provide reservation bookingcapabilities. For example, new booking system 130 can be operated by,associated with, and/or controlled by an online booking agency (e.g.,PRICELINE.COM, BOOKING.COM, AGODA.COM, KAYAK.COM, OPENTABLE,EXPEDIA.COM, HOTELS.COM, HOTWIRE.COM, TRAVELOCITY, ORBITZ, CHEAPTICKETS,EBOOKERS, SABRE, TICKETMASTER, or similar online system).

Prior booking system 140 may include one or more computing devices, suchas servers, workstations, desktop computers, or special-purposecomputing devices. Prior booking system 140 may be a standalone system,or it may be part of a subsystem, which may be part of a larger system.Prior booking system 140 may be configured to provide reservationbooking capabilities. For example, prior booking system 140 can beoperated by, associated with, and/or controlled by an online bookingagency. As an additional example, prior booking system 140 can beoperated by, associated with, and/or controlled by a service provider,such as a hotel or hotel chain, music venue, restaurant, resort,airline, train company (e.g., AMTRAK), or similar service provider.

Network 150 may be configured to provide communications betweencomponents of FIG. 1. For example, network 150 may be any type ofnetwork (including infrastructure) that provides communications,exchanges information, and/or facilitates the exchange of information,such as the Internet, a Local Area Network, or other suitableconnection(s) that enables system 100 to send and receive informationbetween the components of system 100.

As would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, theparticular division of functionality depicted in FIG. 1 is not intendedto be limiting. In some embodiments, one system can be configured toperform the functions of more than one component of system 100. Forexample, one system can perform the functionality of one or more ofemail system 110, rebooking system 120, or new booking system 130. As anadditional example, one system can perform the functionality of both newbooking system 130 and prior booking system 140. In some embodiments,multiple systems can be configured to perform the functions of acomponent of system 100. For example, multiple systems can perform thefunctions of rebooking system 110. In this example, a first system canretrieve emails from email system 120, while a second system parses theemails, and a third system queries new booking system 130 and determinessimilar inventory items. Additional rearrangements and distributions offunctionality would be apparent to one of skill in the art.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for reservation rebooking,consistent with disclosed embodiments. In step 203, prior booking system140 can provide a reservation email to the account of a user on emailsystem 120. This reservation email can be provided in response to theuser reserving inventory using the prior booking system.

In steps 205 and 207, as described in greater detail below with regardto FIGS. 3A and 3B, rebooking system 110 can retrieve the reservationemail from email system 120. Rebooking system 110 can be configured toaccess the account of the user hosted on email system 120. In someaspects, the user (not shown) can provided username and passwordinformation for this account. The user can provide this information, forexample, while registering for the rebooking service provided byrebooking system 110. In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to use an application programming interface (API) exposed byemail system 120 to retrieve the emails (e.g., GMAIL API, YAHOO MAILAPI, etc.). In various embodiments, rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to work with a third party service to retrieve emails fromthe account of the user.

As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, retrieving thereservation email from email system 120 involves identifying reservationemails. This identification can be performed entirely by rebookingsystem 110, entirely by email system 120, or partially by rebookingsystem 110 and email system 120. For example, rebooking system 110 canretrieve new emails from email system 120 and then determine whether anyof the retrieved emails are reservation emails. As an additionalexample, email system 120 can determine whether any newly receivedemails are reservation emails. As a further example, email system 120can determine whether any newly received emails are potentiallyreservation emails. Rebooking system 110 can retrieve the potentialreservation emails from email system 120. Rebooking system 110 candetermine whether any of the potential reservation emails arereservation emails.

Consistent with disclosed embodiments, reservation emails can beidentified using rules of machine learning. In some embodiments,rebooking system 110 and/or email system 120 can identify reservationemails using rules. For example, emails received from predeterminedemail addresses can be identified as reservation emails. Suchpredetermined email addresses can include email addresses associatedwith online booking agencies or service providers. In variousembodiments, rebooking system 110 can identify reservation emails usingmachine learning (e.g., using a neural network). For example, emailsystem 120 can identify potential reservation emails using rules andrebooking system 110 can then retrieve potential reservation emails andidentify reservation emails using a neural network.

In step 209, described in greater detail below with regard to FIGS.4A-4C and 5-8, rebooking system 110 can parse the reservation email.This parsing can be performed on the computer code (e.g., the HTML orXML) describing the reservation email. The parsing can be performedusing a machine learning algorithm, such as a neural network. In someembodiments, the parsing can include filtering the computer code of thereservation email to identify potential reservation parameters. Theparsing can further include creating one or more feature vectors foreach potential reservation parameter. The feature vectors can then beinput into one or more corresponding neural networks to generateassessment values. Based on the assessment values, rebooking system 110can determine the reservation parameters for the reserved inventoryitem.

As used herein, reservation parameters may differ depending on the goodor service reserved. With respect to accommodation reservations,reservation parameters can include check-in date, check-out date, price,currency of price, tracking or confirmation number of reservation, hoteladdress, hotel name, hotel reputation (e.g., 1-star hotel, 2-star hotel,etc.), number of beds in room (e.g., number of cots, sofa beds,twin-sized beds, full-sized beds, queen-sized beds, king-sized beds,etc.), room type (e.g., single, double, triple, quad, etc.), smoking ornon-smoking room, room description, number of people in reservation(e.g., number of infants, children, adults, seniors, etc.), conditionson cancellation (without penalty, with penalty or with penalty afterdate, non-refundable, etc.), number of nights reserved, whether prepaidor not, room size (e.g., 250 square feet), room amenities (fireplace,balcony, hot tub, etc.), view, meals included (e.g., breakfast),wireless network connections included, or similar parameters describinga room and the services provided with an accommodation. Likewise,reservation parameters for travel reservations may include carrier(e.g., AMTRAK, DELTA, CONTINENTAL, etc.), itinerary (e.g., origin,destination, stopovers, etc.), a travel class (e.g., first class,business class, coach, etc.), whether meals are served, number of stops,travel time, or similar parameters describing a travel experience. As anadditional example, reservation parameters for entertainmentreservations may include location (e.g., entertainment venue name),activity (e.g., baseball game, concert, meal, or amusement park ride),seat number/location, seating class (VIP, reserved seating, generaladmission, etc.) or similar parameters describing an entertainmentexperience. As would be realized by one of skill in the art, thisdescription of reservation parameters is not intended to be limiting.

In step 211, rebooking system 110 can query new booking system 130 toidentify available inventory items. This query can depend, in part, onthe reservation parameters parsed from the reservation email in step209. In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured tolimit the query to inventory provided by the same service provider(e.g., the same hotel or same hotel operator, the same flight or sameairline, the same restaurant). In various embodiments, rebooking system110 can be configured to limit the query to inventory with a lower pricethan the reserved inventory item. The ability of rebooking engine 110 toselectively retrieve inventory information can depend on the new bookingengine 130. For example, different online booking agencies can providedifferent degrees of selectivity in retrieving inventory information.Rebooking system 110 can be configured to communicate with new bookingengine 130 to retrieve inventory using an API (e.g., PRICELINE PARTNERNETWORK API, QPX EXPRESS API, SABRE API, etc.).

In step 213, as described in greater detail below with regard to FIG. 9,rebooking system 110 can determine one or more similar inventory items.In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 can use a machine learningsystem to determine one or more similar inventory items. For example,rebooking system 110 can use a neural network to extract inventoryparameters from the available inventory items from step 211. In someaspects, inventory parameters can describe the available inventory itemsjust as reservation parameters can describe the reserved inventory item.For example, inventory parameters can describe accommodation inventory,travel inventory, and entertainment inventory just as the reservationparameters listed above can describe accommodation reservations, travelreservations, and entertainment reservations. In some embodiments,rebooking system 110 can be configured to limit the determination toinventory provided by the same service provider (e.g., the same hotel orsame hotel operator, the same flight or same airline, the samerestaurant). In various embodiments, rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to limit the determination to inventory with a lower pricethan the reserved inventory item. Rebooking system 110 can be configuredto generate comparison vectors for the available inventory items usingat least one of the available inventory items and inventory parameters;and at least one of the reservation email and reservation parameters.The comparison vectors can be input to a neural network to generatesimilarity values. Rebooking system 110 can be configured to determinethe one or more similar inventory items based on the similarity values.

In step 215, rebooking system 110 can notify the user of a rebookingopportunity. In some embodiments, this notification can indicate atleast one similar inventory item. This at least one similar inventoryidea can be a subset of the one or more similar inventory itemsdetermined in step 213. In some aspects, the at least one similarinventory item can cost less than the reserved inventory item.Alternatively or additionally, the at least one similar inventory itemcan have a better reputation than the reserved inventory item (e.g.,rooms at 4-star hotels when the reserved inventory item is a room at a2-star hotel). This notification can be provided using an email, textmessage, IM, automated phone call, or other communication. For example,as described in greater detail below with regard to FIGS. 10A and 10B,rebooking system 110 can send an email to the account of the user hostedon email system 120. As an additional example, rebooking system 110 cansent an instant message (e.g., a Short Message Service (SMS) message,Extended Message Service (EMS) message, or Multimedia Messaging Service(MMS) message) to a phone number of the user.

In step 217, rebooking system 110 can receive a rebooking request fromthe user. This rebooking request can be received in response to theindication provided in step 215. This rebooking request can indicate asimilar inventory item selected by the user. When the indicationprovided in step 215 comprises an email, the user can provide thisrebooking request by interacting with email system 120. For example, theuser can reply to the email message using email system 120, according tomethods known in the art. As an additional example, the user can selecta control embedded in the email that automatically generates andprovides a response to rebooking system 110. When the indicationprovided in step 215 comprises an instant message, the user can providea rebooking request by responding to the instant message. As would beappreciated by one of skill in the art, these exemplary methods ofproviding a rebooking request are not intended to be limiting.

In step 219, rebooking system 110 can provide to new booking system 130a request to reserve the similar inventory item selected by the user.Rebooking system 110 can provide the request using a script executing ona web browser, or can provide the reservation request using an APIexposed by new booking system 130. Rebooking system 110 can indicate inthe reservation request the inventory parameters of the similarinventory item selected by the user. In this manner, rebooking system110 can cause new booking system 130 to reserve the similar inventoryitem selected by the user.

In step 221, new booking engine 130 can be configured to provide aconfirmation of the reservation request. This confirmation can beprovided to rebooking engine 110 directly, as shown in FIG. 2.Alternatively or additionally, a confirmation can be sent to the user.For example, a confirmation can be sent in a reservation email to theuser. Such a reservation email can be sent to the email account of theuser hosted on email system 120. This email could then be retrieved byrebooking system 110 in the normal course of operation (as in step 205).By this indirect method, rebooking system 110 can receive an indicationof a successful reservation, while also priming rebooking system 110 toidentify any additional price drops, should one or more additionalsimilar inventory items at even lower prices become available.

In step 223, as described in greater detail below with regard to FIG.12, rebooking system 110 can generate a cancellation script. In someembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to generate acancellation script by parameterizing a cancellation function. Forexample, the cancellation function can include placeholders forreservation parameters needed to cancel the reservation, such as theemail address of the user, or the confirmation number associated withthe reserved inventory item. Rebooking system 110 can be configured toreplace such placeholders with the appropriate values for thereservation being cancelled. For example, when the confirmation numberassociated with the reserved inventory item is “41982389f0421,”rebooking system 110 can be configured to replace the placeholders forconfirmation number in the cancellation function with the value“41982389f10421.”

In step 225, as described in greater detail below with regard to FIG.11, rebooking system 110 can execute the cancellation script on acancellation device (not shown). In some aspects, the cancellationdevice can be a virtual machine or a computing device. In someembodiments, the cancellation device can be a component of rebookingsystem 110. The cancellation device can provide a cancellation requestto prior booking system 140 according to the cancellation script. Insome aspects, the cancellation device can interact with an API exposedby prior booking system 140 to cancel the reservation. For example, thecancellation device can interact with a web interface exposed by priorbooking system 140 to cancel the reservation (e.g., a web interfacesimilar to those available at www.orbitz.com, www.hotwire.com,www.hotels.com, or similar websites). As described in detail below, thecancellation device can be configured such that the cancellation requestappears to originate from a computing device of the user.

Rebooking system 110 can create or select the cancellation device tomatch a stored device configuration. The stored device configuration canbe a configuration of a computing device of the user. The stored deviceconfiguration can include, for example, the operating system, browser,and browser version of the computing device of the user. In someaspects, the cancellation device can be a virtual machine that matchesthe stored device configuration. For example, rebooking system 110 cancreate or select a virtual machine with an operating system, browser,and browser version matching the stored device configuration. In variousaspects, the cancellation device can be a computing device matching thestored device configuration. In some aspects, this computing device canbe of the same make and model as the computing device of the user. Forexample, when the stored device configuration describes an iPhone 7, thecancellation device can be an iPhone 7. Rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to remotely connect to the cancellation device (e.g., theiPhone 7) to execute the cancellation script. In this manner, thecancellation request can appear to be originating from the computingdevice of the user. Alternatively, for example when a stored deviceconfiguration is unavailable, rebooking system 110 can be configured touse a cancellation device having a device configuration randomlyselected from a distribution of possible device configurations. Thisdistribution of possible device configurations can be an observeddistribution of device configurations, as measured by NETMARKETSHARE,STATCOUNTER, or a similar provider of internet usage statistics.

Rebooking system 110 can be configured to proxy network trafficconcerning the cancellation request through a proxy server. In someembodiments, this proxy server can be a component of rebooking sytem110. This proxy server can have an IP address resembling a stored IPaddress (e.g., an IP address in a subnet range similar to that of thestored IP address). The stored IP address can be the IP address of acomputing device of the user. In various aspects, the proxy server canhave a similar geographic location to the computing device of the user.In this manner, the cancellation request can appear to be coming fromthe location of the user. Alternatively, for example when a stored IPaddress is unavailable, rebooking system 110 can be configured to selecta proxy server at random.

In step 227, prior booking system 140 can indicate that the reservationof the reserved inventory item has been cancelled. For example, priorbooking system 140 can provide a confirmation email indicatedcancellation of the reservation. Rebooking system 110 may be configuredto receive this confirmation email directly, for example when rebookingsystem 110 interacts with prior booking system 140 using an API tocancel the reservation of the reserved inventory item. In variousembodiments, prior booking system 140 can send the confirmation email toan email account of the user. For example, prior booking system 140 cansend the confirmation email to the email account of the user hosted onemail system 120. In embodiments that require rebooking system 110 toobtain confirmation of rebooking, this email could then be retrieved byrebooking system 110 in the normal course of operation (as in step 205).

As described above, in some embodiments, system 100 can be configured touse neural networks to identify reservation emails (step 207), parsereservation emails (step 209), and identify rebooking opportunities(step 213). The neural networks used for each of these processes can betrained using supervised learning. For example, human users can labelemails as reservation emails or not reservation emails. These labeledemails can be used to train neural networks for step 207. As anotherexample, described in detail below with regards to FIG. 7, human userscan identify reservation parameters present in a reservation email andprovide values for those reservation parameters. These emails can thenbe used to train neural networks for step 209. As a further example,human users can identify the available inventory item as similar to, ordissimilar from, the reserved inventory item. These labeled pairs,including the available inventory item and the reserved inventory item,can be used to train neural networks for step 213. The neural networksdescribed herein can be trained occasionally using accumulated trainingdata.

In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to monitormetrics concerning reservation email identification, reservation emailparsing, and rebooking opportunity identification. As a non-limitingexample, rebooking system 110 can be configured to monitor at least oneof the following probabilities: the probability that an email is areservation email, the probability that the parser extracts a particularreservation parameter from the reservation email, the probability thatat least one rebooking opportunity is identified, and the probabilitythat the user accepts the rebooking opportunity.

The monitored metrics can be used to determine when the neural networksrequire retraining. For example, a sudden change in a metric canindicate that the associated neural network requires retraining. Such achange may occur, for example, when a neural network responsible foridentifying reservation emails cannot recognize a new reservation emailsformat. The neural network can then be retrained using reservationemails in the new format until such emails are reliably recognized.

As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the particular orderand arrangement of steps disclosed in FIG. 2 is not intended to belimiting. For example, steps can be re-arranged or combined withoutdeparting from the envisioned embodiments. Steps can be divided intosub-steps that can be performed in a different order, or by differentcomponents of system 100. Furthermore, additional steps may be added orsteps may be removed without departing from the envisioned embodiments.

Reservation Email Identification

FIGS. 3A and 3B depict flowcharts of exemplary reservationidentification processes, consistent with disclosed embodiments.Consistent with disclosed embodiments, these identification processescan be performed at least in part by email system 120, rebooking system110, or a third-party system. This flexibility allows system 100 tointeract with a variety of email systems that expose differingfunctionality through APIs, to manage the computing resources requiredby rebooking system 110, and to address the concerns of users that maynot wish to have non-travel related emails forwarded or copied torebooking system 110.

According to the method depicted in FIG. 3A, one or more of email system120 and rebooking system 110 can identify emails in an account of a useron email system 110 as reservation emails using rules. In step 301,rebooking system 301 can be configured to receive the rules. The rulescan comprise keywords, search parameters (e.g., read/unread status,field to search, mailbox to search, presence of attachments, emailsize), regular expressions, or similar rules known to one of skill inthe art. In some embodiments, the rules can include a list of emailaddresses that are known senders of reservation emails. For example,these email addresses may be used by online booking agents or serviceproviders to send reservation emails, or accommodation-related,travel-related, and/or entertainment-related emails to the accounts ofusers.

In step 303, one or more of email system 120 and rebooking system 110can apply these rules to the email account of the user. In someembodiments, according to methods known in the art, one or moremailboxes of the user (e.g., an inbox, junk mail, deleted folder, orother mailbox of the user) can be searched for emails satisfying therules. For example, in response to a query from rebooking system 110,email system 120 can search the mailbox of the user for emails sent bysenders having email addresses matching those in a predetermined list ofemail addresses. In step 305, rebooking system 110 can obtain theresulting matching emails from email system 120.

In various embodiments, the order of steps 303 and 305 can be reversed.For example, rebooking system 110 can be configured to retrieve at leastsome new emails from one or more mailboxes of the user (as in step 305)and then apply the rules to these retrieved emails (as in step 303). Insome embodiments, system 100 can be configured to combine theseapproaches. For example, email system 120 can be configured to provideto rebooking system 110 emails satisfying one or more coarse filteringrules (e.g., based on the email address of the sender), and rebookingsystem 110 can further filter the retrieved emails based on one or morefine filtering rules (e.g., the results of regular expressions appliedto the subject line or text of the retrieved emails). In someembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to process theobtained reservation emails as described above with regards to step 209of FIG. 2.

As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the particular orderand arrangement of steps disclosed in FIG. 3A are not intended to belimiting. For example, steps can be re-arranged or combined withoutdeparting from the envisioned embodiments. Steps can be divided intosub-steps that can be performed in a different order, or by differentcomponents of system 100. Furthermore, additional steps may be added orsteps may be removed without departing from the envisioned embodiments.

According to the method depicted in FIG. 3B, emails in an account of auser on email system 110 can be identified for parsing by rebookingsystem 110 using a neural network. The emails can be converted tofeature vectors, which can be input to the neural network to generate aselection value. Emails with selection scores exceeding a predeterminedthreshold can be identified as reservation emails.

In step 307, rebooking system 307 can be configured to receivefeature-generating functions. The feature-generating functions of FIG.3B can take an email as input and provide one or more features as anoutput. The features of FIG. 3B can be numbers. These numbers can becontinuous or discrete-valued, and can represent numerical values (e.g.,price), logical values (e.g., Booleans represented by one or zero), orcategorical information (e.g., day of the week, day of the month, monthof the year, day of the year, etc.). The features of FIG. 3B can includeany characteristic of an email that might influence the chance of theemail being a reservation email, whether considered alone (e.g., whetherthe email sender address, or a portion of the email sender address,matches a known email address, or portion of a known email address,previously used to send reservation emails), or in combination withother characteristics of the email (e.g., whether a variant of the word“confirmation” appears in the email within a certain number of word of avariant of the word “reservation”). An exemplary, non-limiting list ofadditional features includes: whether the body of the email includeswords in a predetermined list of terms (e.g., “confirmation number”,“booking number”, etc.); whether the body of the email includes anaddress for a known service provider (e.g., a hotel or venue address);whether the subject line of the email includes words in a predeterminedlist of terms (e.g., “trip,” “stay”, “reservation”, etc.); and whetherthe email address of the sender includes tokens in a predetermined listof tokens (e.g., “hhonors”, “hiltonhonors.com”, “starwoodhotels,” etc.).

In step 309, one or more of email system 120 and rebooking system 110can apply the feature-generating functions to emails received by theuser. For example, email system 120 can apply the feature-generatingfunctions to emails in the account of the user. The emails can be in oneor more mailboxes of the user (e.g., an inbox, junk mail, deletedfolder, or other mailbox of the user). Email system 120 can beconfigured to apply the feature-generating functions following a queryfrom rebooking system 110. Email system 120 can be configured to providethe feature values for the emails to rebooking system 110. As anadditional example, rebooking system 110 can apply thefeature-generating functions to emails retrieved from email system 120.In this example, rebooking system 110 can be configured to retrieveemails satisfying one or more query criteria (e.g., based on the domainof the sender email address). These emails can be retrieved from one ormore mailboxes of the user (e.g., an inbox, junk mail, deleted folder,or other mailbox of the user).

In step 311, rebooking system 110 can generate selection values foremails. These selection values can be determined based on the featurevalues for the emails. Rebooking system 110 can be configured to createa feature vector for each email based on the features values for theemail. For example, rebooking system 110 can be configured to create thefeature vector for an email by concatenating the feature values for theemail. Rebooking system 110 can be configured to input the featurevectors for the emails to a neural network to calculate selection valuesfor the emails. The neural network can include an input layer that takesthe values of a feature vector. A hidden layer can receive inputs fromeach of the input layers and output a value based on the values of theseinputs. This value can depend on a weighted sum of the input values andan offset. For example, the value can be a function of the weighted sumof the input values and an offset. The neural network can includemultiple hidden layers, each receiving input from the preceding hiddenlayer. An output layer can include a single selection value. Thisselection value can depend on a weighted sum of the input values to theoutput layer and an offset for this output layer. For example, theselection value can be a function of the weighted sum of the inputvalues and an offset. In some embodiments, the neural network can beconfigured such that the selection value takes a value between zero andone. As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, other neuralnetwork architectures can be used and the architecture above isexemplary and not intended to be limiting.

In step 313, rebooking system 110 can be configured to identifyreservation emails based on selection values. In some embodiments,rebooking system 110 can be configured to consider potential reservationparameters having selection values greater than a predeterminedthreshold. For example, when the predetermined threshold is 0.5,rebooking system 110 may be configured to identify as a reservationemail any email with a selection values less than 0.5. In someembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to process emailsidentified as reservation emails as described above with regards to step209 of FIG. 2.

As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the particular orderand arrangement of steps disclosed in FIG. 3B are not intended to belimiting. For example, steps can be re-arranged or combined withoutdeparting from the envisioned embodiments. Steps can be divided intosub-steps that can be performed in a different order, or by differentcomponents of system 100. Furthermore, additional steps may be added orsteps may be removed without departing from the envisioned embodiments.

Reservation Email Parsing

FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate a technical problem with automated rebooking thatis addressed by the envisioned systems and methods. FIG. 4A depicts anexemplary reservation confirmation email as it would be displayed to ahuman user. As displayed, a human user has little difficulty identifyingthe pertinent reservations parameters (e.g., check-in date and time,check-out date and time, hotel address, confirmation number. But anautomated reservation system does not identify the pertinent reservationparameters in the same manner as a human user. FIG. 4B depicts thereservation confirmation email of FIG. 4A as it would be parsed by anautomated reservation system. This exemplary computer code, whenprocessed by the computing device of the user, generates the imagedisplayed in FIG. 4A. To enable correct functioning of the automatedrebooking system, reservation parameters presented in this exemplarycomputer code must be identified and the correct values of thesereservation parameters must be assigned, as shown in FIG. 4C.

A conventional approach to identifying reservation parameters may relyon foreknowledge of the exact structure of the confirmation email sentby an online booking agency or service provider. For example, customizedrules can be used to extract reservation parameters (e.g., using an XMLquery language like XPATH) from a reservation email when the exacttemplate (e.g., HMTL or XML template) of the reservation email is known.But implementing an automated rebooking system using this conventionalapproach can be difficult.

Because the content of reservation emails can be dynamically generated,reservation emails generated according to known templates can vary instructure. This variation can prevent the conventional approach fromsuccessfully identifying reservation parameters. Furthermore, onlinebooking agencies and service providers often update templates for thereservation emails. Each update can prevent the conventional approachfrom successfully identifying reservation parameters, requiringrewriting of the customized rules. Furthermore, a set of customizedrules may be required for each template used by each online bookingagency or service provider, severely increasing maintenance requirementsfor system 100 and limiting the number of online booking agencies andservice providers system 100 can accommodate.

The disclosed systems and methods, in some embodiments, can use machinelearning to develop a parser capable of extracting reservationparameters from reservation emails with dynamically generated content.Such a parser can also accommodate changes in templates. In someembodiments, such a parser can accommodate multiple booking agencies andservice providers, or specific versions of a parser can be trained toaccommodate one or more different booking agencies and serviceproviders. For example, a parser can be trained to only extractparameters from reservation emails sent by ORBITZ.COM, or trained toextract parameters from reservation emails sent by HOTELS.COM and byHOTWIRE.COM. Thus this machine learning approach improves uponconventional approaches, overcoming technical problems with thoseconventional approaches that hinder automatic rebooking systems.

FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary reservation parsing process,consistent with disclosed embodiments. As described in greater detailbelow, the envisioned systems and methods generate potential reservationparameters from the reservation email in step 503 and determinereservation parameters for the reserved inventory item from thepotential reservation parameters (and optionally the reservation email)using neural networks in steps 505-509. In some embodiments, theenvisioned systems and methods can additionally validate thesereservation parameters. In various embodiments, the envisioned systemsand methods can infer a cancellation policy using at least some of thereservation email. For example, a cancellation feature vector can begenerated based on the entire email and provided to a cancellationneural network. This cancellation neural network can determine a type ofcancellation policy based on the cancellation feature vector. In thismanner, system 100 can use a specific implementation of machine learningto extract reservation parameters from a reservation email.

In step 501, rebooking system 110 can receive a reservation email. Asdescribed above, rebooking system 110 can be configured to retrieve thereservation email from email system 120, or a third party system that inturn retrieves the reservation email from email system 120.

In step 503, rebooking system 110 can generate potential reservationparameters. These potential reservation parameters can correspond toreservation parameters that describe the reserved inventory item. Thecorrespondence between reservation parameters and potential reservationparameters can be many-to-many. For example, each potential reservationparameter can correspond to multiple reservation parameters and eachreservation parameter can correspond to zero, one, or multiple potentialreservation parameters. For example, a date in a reservation email couldpotentially be a “check-in date” reservation parameter or a “check-outdate” reservation parameter. Likewise, a numeric value in a reservationemail could potentially be a “number of beds” reservation parameter, a“number of adults” reservation parameter, or a “number of nights”reservation parameter. The date and the numeric value can therefore bepotential reservation parameters and can each correspond to multiplereservation parameters.

Rebooking system 110 can be configured to generate potential reservationparameters by filtering the reservation email. This filtering can beperformed on the computer code defining the reservation email (e.g., thecomputer code shown in FIG. 4B). System 110 can be configured to filterthe reservation email to reduce the number of potential reservationparameters input to the machine learning stage of the parser. As wouldbe appreciated by one of skill in the art, reservation emails cancontain a lot of information. Filtering can reduce the computationalresources required by, and the complexity of, the neural networks usedto extract the reservation parameters.

Rebooking system 110 can be configured to filter the reservation emailby applying filtering rules for each reservation parameter (e.g., price,check-in date, number of occupants) to the reservation email. Thesefiltering rules can depend on the format of information in the email.For example, a filtering rule for check-in date can be satisfied byanything that appears to be a date, or a filtering rule for price can besatisfied for anything that appears to be a price. Each reservationparameter can be associated with multiple rules. In some embodiments,rebooking system 110 can be configured to require that potentialreservation parameters satisfy all of these multiple rules. In variousembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to require thatpotential reservation parameters satisfy at least some of these multiplerules. Rebooking system 110 can be configured to use regularexpressions, address parsing libraries, date parsing libraries, orsimilar rules to filter the reservation email.

In steps 505-509, rebooking system 110 can determine reservationparameters for the reserved inventory item using neural networks. Insome embodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured with a separateneural network for each reservation parameter. Rebooking system 110 canuse the neural network for a reservation parameter to generateassessment values for each potential reservation parameter correspondingto that reservation parameter. For example, rebooking system 110 can beconfigured with a first neural network for determining a firstreservation parameter and a second neural network for determining asecond reservation parameter. Given a potential reservation parametercorresponding to both the first reservation parameter and the secondreservation parameter, rebooking system 110 can be configured to (i) usethe first neural network to determine a first assessment score of thepotential reservation parameter for the first reservation parameter and(ii) use the second neural network to determine a second assessmentscore of the potential reservation parameter for the second reservationparameter. Rebooking system 110 can determine whether the potentialreservation parameter is the first reservation parameter based on thefirst assessment score. This determination can involve comparing thefirst assessment score to other assessment scores generated using thefirst neural network for other potential reservation parameterscorresponding to the first reservation parameter. Similarly, rebookingsystem 110 can determine whether the potential reservation parameter isthe second reservation parameter based on the second assessment score.Thus rebooking system 110 can determine whether the potentialreservation parameter is (i) the first reservation parameter, (ii) thesecond reservation parameter, or (iii) neither reservation parameter.The process of generating assessment score and determining reservationparameters is described in greater detail below.

In step 505, rebooking system 110 can generate feature vectors for thepotential reservation parameters. Consistent with disclosed embodiments,for each reservation parameter a feature-generating function can existthat generates a feature vector from a potential reservation parameter.Because multiple reservation parameters can correspond to a singlepotential reservation parameter (e.g., a date may be the check-in date,the check-out date, or an irrelevant date), multiple feature vectors canbe generated for each potential reservation parameter. The featurescomprising these vectors can be numbers. These numbers can be continuousor discrete-valued, and can represent numerical values (e.g., price),logical values (e.g., Booleans represented by one or zero), orcategorical information (e.g., day of the week, day of the month, monthof the year, day of the year, etc.). Features can include anycharacteristic of a potential reservation parameter that might influencethe chance of the value being correct, whether considered alone (e.g.,whether an amount is within a range of plausible prices, whether a textstring is a valid address), in combination with other potentialreservation parameters (e.g., whether a potential check-out date is thelatest date among the potential reservation parameters, whether apotential check-in date is the second latest date among the potentialreservation parameters), or in combination with other information in thereservation email (e.g., the number of words between a value and arelevant keyword). An exemplary, non-limiting list of features includes:the number of words in the reservation email between a date and the term“check-in date” (or variants thereof).; whether a text string is withina predetermined number of words from one of a predetermined list ofterms (e.g., “confirmation number”, “booking number”, etc.); the lengthof a potential confirmation number; whether a character string is in acommon format for US phone numbers (e.g., “XXX.XXX.XXXX” or “(XXX)XXX-XXXX”); and where a value sits among a range of possibilities(greatest, least, etc.).

For example, assuming that the parser has identified “5850-7134-9691”,“17184325473”, and “ESFSX” as potential confirmation numbers, thefeature-generating function can determine the following features foreach of these potential confirmation numbers: whether length is between6 and 15 characters; whether it is a common phone number format such asa US phone number; the distance in the email from the keywords“confirmation number”, “booking number”; etc. The values for thesefeatures can be combined with other features to generate featurevectors, as described below with regard to FIG. 6.

In step 507, rebooking system 110 can be configured to generateassessment values based on the feature vectors using a neural network.The neural network can include an input layer that takes the values ofthe feature vector. A hidden layer can receive inputs from each of theinput layers and output a value based on the values of these inputs.This value can depend on a weighted sum of the input values and anoffset. For example, the value can be a function of the weighted sum ofthe input values and an offset. The neural network can include multiplehidden layers, each receiving input from the preceding hidden layer. Anoutput layer can include a single assessment value. This assessmentvalue can depend on a weighted sum of the input values to the outputlayer and an offset for this output layer. For example, the assessmentvalue can be a function of the weighted sum of the input values and anoffset. A feature vector can be input to the neural network to calculatean assessment value for that feature vector. In some embodiments, adifferent neural network can be used for each reservation parameter,such as the number of nodes in the input layer and the number of nodesin each of the one or more hidden layers. The weights and offsets candiffer between these neural networks. In some embodiments, these neuralnetworks can be configured such that the assessment values take valuesbetween zero and one. As would be appreciated by one of skill in theart, other neural network architectures can be used and the architectureabove is exemplary and not intended to be limiting.

In step 509, rebooking system 110 can be configured to determinereservation parameters based on the assessment values. In someembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to considerpotential reservation parameters having assessment values greater than apredetermined threshold. For example, when the predetermined thresholdis 0.5, rebooking system 110 may be configured to reject as areservation parameter any potential reservation parameter with anassessment value less than 0.5. As potential reservation parameters canbe associated with multiple assessment values, a potential reservationparameter can be rejected for one reservation parameter and consideredfor another reservation parameter. For example, a date may have anassessment value of 0.8 for a check-in date and 0.4 for a check-outdate. Rebooking system 110 can reject this date as a potential check-outdate and consider this date as a potential check-in date. When there aremultiple potential reservation parameters with assessment values greaterthan the predetermined threshold for a reservation parameter, rebookingsystem 110 can be configured to select the potential reservationparameter with the highest assessment value as the reservationparameter. When there exist no potential reservation parameters for areservation parameter, because no potential reservation parameters wereselected or no selected potential reservation parameters had assessmentvalues greater than a threshold value, rebooking system 110 can set thereservation parameter to a default value (e.g., zero). In someembodiments, the predetermined thresholds for different reservationparameters can differ. In various embodiments, the predeterminedthreshold for the different reservations parameters can be the same.

In optional step 511, rebooking system 110 can be configured to validatereservation parameters. For example, rebooking system 110 can choose atext string as a “hotel name” reservation parameter, or as a “hoteladdress” reservation parameter based on assessment values. In step 511rebooking system can be configured to verify that a hotel exists withthat name (or a variation of that name) or that a hotel exists at thataddress (or a variation of that address). As an additional example,rebooking system 511 can confirm that a “reservation phone number”reservation parameter matches a phone number for the hotel. In someembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to evaluate thevalidity of the reservation parameters with respect to other reservationparameters. For example, rebooking system 110 can be configured todetermine whether a “check-in date” reservation parameter is before a“check-out date” reservation parameter, and whether a “number of nights”reservation parameter (if available) equals a difference between the“check-in date” reservation parameter and the “check-out date”reservation parameter. One of skill in the art would appreciate thatmany other consistency and validation checks are possible, and that thechecks listed above are not intended to be limiting.

In option step 513, rebooking system 110 can be configured to determinea cancellation policy for the reservation. Consistent with disclosedembodiments, similar to the process described above with regard to step505, rebooking system 110 can be configured to generate a cancellationfeature vector based on the content of the whole reservation email. Thiscancellation feature vector can be input to a cancellation neuralnetwork comprising an input layer, one or more hidden layers, and anoutput layer, similar to the neural networks used to generate assessmentvalues and described above with regard to step 507. The output of thiscancellation neural network can be an indication of the cancellationpolicy. As a non-limiting example, the cancellation neural network candistinguish between whether the reservation is cancellable withoutpenalty, with penalty, with penalty after a certain date, ornon-refundable. In this example, the output layer of the cancellationneural network can include four nodes, each corresponding to one of thefour possible cancellation policies. The value generated by thecancellation neural network for each of the four nodes can indicate therelative probability of the associated cancellation policy being thecancellation policy for the reservation. As would be appreciated by oneof skill in the art, other configurations are possible.

The following pseudocode shows how an email may be parsed using machinelearning to identify reservation parameters (described as fields)including “check_in_date”, “total_price”, and “confirmation_number.” Asshown, according to the pseudocode, the “parse” function returns areservation data structure including the parsed reservation parameters.

parse(email):  reservation = { }  fields = [‘check_in_date’,‘total_price’, ‘confirmation_number’, ...]  for each field in fields: feature_vectors = build_feature_vectors_for_field(email, field) classifier = classifier_for_field(field)  # the values associated withfeature vectors that score high enough get  # added to the reservation. for each feature_vector in feature_vectors:   ifclassifier.predict(feature_vector) > 0.5:   # NOTE: Can also pick thehighest predicted value over threshold.  reservation.add_value_for_field(feature_vector.value, field)  returnreservation

As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the particular orderand arrangement of steps disclosed in FIG. 5 is not intended to belimiting. For example, steps can be re-arranged or combined withoutdeparting from the envisioned embodiments. Steps can be divided intosub-steps that can be performed in a different order, or by differentcomponents of system 100. Furthermore, additional steps may be added orsteps may be removed without departing from the envisioned embodiments.

FIGS. 6A and 6B depict exemplary data structures and pseudocode for usein reservation parsing, consistent with disclosed embodiments. Asdiscussed above, with regard to FIG. 5, multiple potential reservationparameters (e.g., potential parameter 601—potential parameter 605) canbe filtered out of the reservation email for each reservation parameter(e.g., parameter 611—parameter 615). Likewise, each reservation emailprocessed by rebooking system 110 can include multiple reservationparameters. The pseudocode depicted in FIG. 6B indicates how a featurevector can be created with values for features, and how multiple suchfeature vectors can be associated with different reservation parameters(e.g., confirmation number, check-in date. etc.) As would be appreciatedby one of skill in the art, this particular data structure is notintended to be limiting.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for training a neuralnetwork used for reservation parsing, consistent with disclosedembodiments. Rebooking system 110 can be configured to train the neuralnetworks used to parse reservation parameters from reservation emails.In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to trainthese neural networks prior to use in system 100. In variousembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to periodicallyretrain the neural networks while system 100 is in operation. In someembodiments, this may be supervised learning. In step 701, rebookingsystem 110 can be configured to receiving training emails. For example,a portion of the emails retrieved by rebooking system 110 from emailsystem 120 can be selected for training. In some embodiments, thisproportion can be less than 10%.

In step 703, rebooking system 110 can be configured to extractreservation parameters from the selected reservation emails. Thesereservation parameters can be selected according to the methodsdescribed above with regards to FIG. 5.

In step 705, the results of this extraction process can be assessed by ahuman user. Correct values and incorrect values can be indicated by thehuman user. Correct values can be entered and stored with each email.

In step 707, the system can then update the weights and offsets of theneural network according to methods known to one of skill in the art. Insome embodiments, using this labeled training data, rebooking system 110can be configured to repeatedly predict parameter values, compare thepredicted parameter values to the human-validated parameter values, andupdate the weights and offsets of the neural network based on theresults of this comparison. This training process can continue until astopping point is reached. This stopping point may depend on an errorrate, a number of training iterations, or an elapsed time.

As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the particular orderand arrangement of steps disclosed in FIG. 7 is not intended to belimiting. For example, steps can be re-arranged or combined withoutdeparting from the envisioned embodiments. Steps can be divided intosub-steps that can be performed in a different order. Furthermore,additional steps may be added or steps may be removed without departingfrom the envisioned embodiments. One of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize that other training methods are possible and the above methodsare not intended to be limiting.

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary graphical user interface for training aneural network used for reservation parsing, consistent with disclosedembodiments. As shown in FIG. 8, given a reservation email, the neuralnetworks of rebooking system 110 can be configured to determine whethera reservation parameter is present and the value of the reservationparameter. For example, a first neural network configured to extract the“number of adults” reservation parameter from the reservation email hasdetermined that (i) this reservation parameter is present in thereservation email and (ii) that the value of this reservation parameteris “2 adults.” This value has been confirmed by a human user, asindicated by the value of the “Admin Verified” selector. Likewise, asecond neural network configured to extract the “total price”reservation parameter from the reservation email has determined that (i)this reservation parameter is present in the reservation email and (ii)that the value of this reservation parameter is “275.04.” This value hasalso been confirmed by a human user, as indicated by the value of the“Admin Verified” selector.

Using this graphical user interface, correct values can be entered forparsed fields, fields that are erroneously indicated as being present inthe reservation email can be deleted, and additional fields that areerroneously indicated as missing in the reservation email can be addedand have correct values applied. One of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize that other graphical user interfaces for training are possibleand the above graphical user interface is not intended to be limiting.

Determining Equivalent Inventory

Different online booking agencies and service providers can display thesame inventory differently. For example, the same amenities or featurescan be described differently by different online booking agencies. Afirst online booking agency may describe occupancy in terms of adultsand children, while another may equivalently describe occupancy in termsof seniors, adults, children, and infants. A first online booking agencymay describe a room as including a king-size bed, while another mayequivalently describe the room as including a California king-sized bed.A first online booking agency may describe a room as having a skylineview while another may equivalently describe the room as having a cityview. A first online booking agency may describe a room as being asuite, while another may equivalently describe the room as including abedroom and a living room. For this reason, attempting to matchreservation features can cause an automatic rebooking system to missretrieved inventory equivalent to the reserved inventory item.

The envisioned systems and methods improve upon simple matching by usingmachine learning to identify retrieved inventory equivalent to thereserved inventory item. In some embodiments, this system relies uponsupervised learning to determine whether retrieved inventory matches thereserved inventory item. This supervised learning process provides theadditional benefit of modeling the weight a user may give to eachdescribed difference (for example, a user might consider a difference inthe described number of beds or smoking/non-smoking status more relevantto equivalence than a difference in the described view or free Wi-Fistatus). In this manner, in some embodiments, the envisioned systems andmethods provide a specific implementation of a technical solution toproblem affecting automatic rebooking systems.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an exemplary inventory selection process,consistent with disclosed embodiments. As described in greater detailbelow, rebooking engine 110 can be configured to determine inventoryitems similar to the reserved inventory item using neural networks. Insome embodiments, the inventory items can be converted into the sameformat as the reservation email. The inventory parameters can beextracted from the converted inventory items in a manner similar to theextraction of the reservation parameters from the reservation email asdescribed above with regard to FIG. 5. In this manner, the functionalitydeveloped for processing the reservation emails can be reused to processthe inventory items. This can reduce the effort required to maintainingsystem 100.

In step 901, rebooking system 110 can retrieve inventory items. In someembodiments, these inventory items can be retrieved from new bookingsystem 130. As described above with regard to step 213 of FIG. 2,rebooking system 110 can be configured to query new booking system 130using parameters parsed from the reservation email. For example, whenthe reserved inventory item is a hotel room, rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to retrieve available hotel rooms in the same city with thesame check-in and check-out dates. As an additional example, when thereserved inventory item is a seat on an airline flight, rebooking system110 can be configured to retrieve available seats on flights with thesame origin, destination, and departure date.

In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to limit thequery to inventory provided by the same service provider, and/orinventory with a lower price than the reserved inventory item. Forexample, when the reserved inventory item is a hotel room, rebookingsystem 110 can be configured to retrieve available hotel rooms that arenot only in the same city with the same check-in and check-out dates,but also in the same hotel. As an additional example, when the reservedinventory item is a seat on an airline flight, rebooking system 110 canbe configured to retrieve available seats on flights that not only havethe same origin, destination, and departure date, but also are on thesame flight. As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, otherreservation parameters can also be used to limit the query, and theabove example is not intended to be limiting.

Rebooking system 110 can be configured to retrieve the inventory itemsusing an API exposed by new booking system 130. Depending on the API andnew booking system 130, these inventory items can be retrieved in aformat differing from the reservation email. For example, thereservation email may be provided in a markup language such as HTML orXML, while the retrieved inventory items can be JSON objects.

In step 903, rebooking system 110 can convert the retrieved inventoryitems to the same format as the reservation email. For example, when thereservation email is an HTML document, rebooking system 903 can beconfigured to convert the retrieved inventory items to HTML.

In step 905, rebooking system 110 can parse the converted inventoryitems to generate inventory parameters. In some embodiments, asdescribed in greater detail below, parsing a converted inventory itemcan include filtering the converted inventory item to generate potentialinventory parameters, determining the inventory parameters based onassessment values for the potential inventory parameters, optionallyvalidating the inventory parameters, and optionally determining acancellation policy. In this manner, rebooking system 110 can extractinventory parameters for comparison to the reservation parameters.

Rebooking system 110 can filter the converted inventory items togenerate potential inventory parameters in a manner similar to thatdescribed with regard to FIG. 5. In some embodiments, rebooking system110 can use at least some of the same rules for filtering thereservation email and for filtering the converted inventory items. Forexample, the rules used for filtering the reservation email can be thesame as the rules used for filtering the converted inventory items. Invarious embodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to usedifferent rules for filtering the reservation email and for filteringthe converted inventory items.

Rebooking system 110 can determine inventory parameters from potentialinventory parameters using neural networks in a manner similar to thatdescribed with regard to FIG. 5. In some embodiments, at least some ofthe feature definitions used to generate the feature vectors fordetermining the reservation parameters can be used to generate inventoryfeature vectors for determining the inventory parameters. For example,the same feature definitions used to generate the feature vectors fordetermining the reservation parameters can be used to generate inventoryfeature vectors for determining the inventory parameters. In variousembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to use differentfeature definitions to generate the feature vectors for determining thereservation parameters and to generate inventory feature vectors fordetermining the inventory parameters. Rebooking system 110 can input theinventory feature vectors to a neural network in a manner similar tothat described with regard to FIG. 5. As described above, the inventoryfeature vectors can be input to a neural network to generate anassessment value for the potential inventory parameter. In someembodiments, at least some of the neural networks used to generateassessment values for an inventory parameter may be the same as theneural networks used to generate assessment values for the reservationparameter corresponding to the inventory parameter. For example, thesame neural network can be used to generate assessment values for areservation number of beds and for an inventory number of beds. Invarious embodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to usedifferent neural network to generate the assessment values fordetermining the reservation parameters and for determining the inventoryparameters. Rebooking system 110 can determine the inventory parametersbased on assessment values in the same manner as rebooking system 110determines the reservation parameters based on assessment values, asdescribed above with regard to FIG. 5.

Rebooking system 110 can optionally validate the inventory parameters inthe same manner as rebooking system 110 validates the reservationparameters, as described above with regard to FIG. 5.

Rebooking system 110 can optionally determine a cancellation policy foran inventory item in the same manner as rebooking system 110 determinesa cancellation policy for the reserved inventory item, as describedabove with regard to FIG. 5.

In step 907, rebooking system 110 can compare the converted inventoryitem to the reservation email. In some embodiments, one of more featurescan be extracted based on the HMTL representations of the reservationemail and the converted inventory item. For example, one feature can bethe number of keywords that are present in both the reservation emailand the converted inventory item. These keywords need not be relevant tothe reservation parameters, but may be unusual or descriptive words. Afeature could be the number of such words that occur in one of thereservation email and the inventory item that also occur in the other ofthe inventory item and the reservation email.

In step 909, rebooking system 110 can compare the inventory parametersfor an available inventory item to the reservation parameters for thereserved inventory item. The available inventory item and the reservedinventory item can share a set of common parameters. For example, theinventory parameters and the reservation parameters can both includeparameters such as hotel address, type of bed, number of beds, smokingor non-smoking status. As would be appreciated by one of skill in theart, the set of common parameters can differ between available inventoryitems. For example, the reserved inventory item can have a “view”reservation parameter with the value “city” and “Wi-Fi” reservationparameter with the value “Free.” A first available inventory item canhave a “view” reservation parameter but not a “Wi-Fi” reservationparameter. A second available inventory item can have a “Wi-Fi”reservation parameter but not a “view” reservation parameter. The set ofcommon parameters between the reserved inventory item and the firstavailable inventory item can therefore differ from the set of commonparameters between the reserved inventory item and the second availableinventory item.

Rebooking system 110 can be configured to compare the values forinventory parameters and reservation parameters in the set of commonparameters. The result of this comparison can be comparison features.These features can have values that are continuous or discrete-valued,and can represent at least numerical values (e.g., difference in numberof beds, difference in occupancy, difference in reputation rating,different in price) and logical values (e.g., matching/non-matchingsmoking room status, matching/non-matching Wi-Fi, inventory reputationgreater than or equal to reservation reputation, inventory price lessthan or equal to reservation price).

In step 911, rebooking system 110 can generate a comparison featurevector based on the comparisons performed in step 907 and step 909. Insome embodiments, this comparison feature vector can include elementscorresponding to the features determinable in steps 907 and 909. Forexample, when 10 features can be determined in step 907 and 50 featurescan be determined in step 909 then the comparison feature vector caninclude 60 features. Rebooking system 110 can be configured toinitialize the elements of this comparison feature vector to zero (oranother default value). Rebooking system 110 can be configured to writethe feature values determined in step 907 nd step 909 to thecorresponding elements of the comparison feature vector.

In step 913, rebooking system 110 can input the comparison featurevector to a neural network to determine a similarity value. Like theneural networks described above with regard to FIG. 5, this neuralnetwork can comprise, in some embodiments, an input layer taking thevalues in the comparison feature vector, one or more hidden layers withvalues based on the outputs of the preceding layer, and an output layercomprising a single node. In some embodiments, this output node can takevalues between zero and one. As would be appreciated by one of skill inthe art, other neural network architectures can be used and thearchitecture above is exemplary and not intended to be limiting.

In a manner similar to the training described with regard to FIG. 7,this neural network can be trained using supervised learning. Forexample, pairs of inventory items can be labeled “similar” or “notsimilar” by a human user. In this manner, the envisioned system andmethods can benefit from human assessments of similarity. For example, ahuman trainer can label a hotel room in a first hotel with certainreservation parameters similar to a hotel room in a second hotel withthe same or slightly different reservation parameters. A human trainercan also evaluate which differences in reservation features are mostimportant. For example, a human trainer can label a $200 per night hotelroom offered by a first service provider equivalent to a nearby $150 pernight hotel room offered by a second service provider. Likewise, a humantrainer can label a $200 per night hotel room in a four-star hotelequivalent to a $100 per night hotel room in a two-star hotel. Theselabeled pairs can be used to train a neural network according to methodsknown to one of skill in the art. Thus human judgments of similarity andthe importance of reservation parameters can be incorporated into theneural network.

In step 915, rebooking system 110 can determine similar inventory itemsbased on similarity values for one or more inventory items. In someembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to identifyinventory items with a similarity value exceeding a predeterminedthreshold value as similar inventory items. As a non-limiting example,the value of this predetermined threshold can be greater than 0.8 andless than 1.0. For example the value of this threshold can be 0.9. Insome embodiments, rebooking system 110 can provide indications of allsimilar inventory items to the user. In various embodiments, rebookingsystem 110 can only provide indications of a certain number of similarinventory items with the highest similarity values. For example, theinventory item with the highest similarity values, or the two inventoryitems with the highest similar values, or the N inventory items with thehighest similar values, where N is less than or equal to 10. In someembodiments, rebooking system 110 can only provide indications of acertain number of the similar inventory items with the highest pricedrop (or greatest increase in reputation) compared to the reservedinventory item. For example, the inventory item with the highest pricedrop (or greatest increase in reputation), or the two inventory itemswith the highest price drop (or greatest increase in reputation), or theN inventory items with the highest price drop (or greatest increase inreputation), where N is less than or equal to 10. In some embodiments,the similar inventory items provided can depend on both the similarityvalue and the magnitude of the price drop for the similar inventoryitems.

In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 can input a subset of thecomparison feature vector to a neural network to determine a similarityvalue for that subset of the comparison feature vector. For example,rebooking system 110 can determine a similarity value for inventoryitems differing by one or more particular inventory parameters from thereserved inventory item. For example, when the reserved inventory itemis a hotel room that allows smoking, rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to provide non-smoking rooms that otherwise match thereserved inventory item. As an additional example, rebooking system 110can determine a similarity value for inventory items with one or moreinventory parameters having fixed values. For example, when the reservedinventory item is a hotel room, rebooking system 110 can be configuredto provide only smoking rooms or only refundable rooms.

As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the particular orderand arrangement of steps disclosed in FIG. 9 is not intended to belimiting. For example, steps can be re-arranged or combined withoutdeparting from the envisioned embodiments. Steps can be divided intosub-steps that can be performed in a different order, or by othercomponents of system 100. Furthermore, additional steps may be added orsteps may be removed without departing from the envisioned embodiments.

FIG. 10A depicts an exemplary graphical user interface for displaying arebooking option, consistent with disclosed embodiments. As shown inthis example, the graphical user interface can be configured to displayvendor information 1001. This vendor information can include the name,and potentially the address of the service provider (e.g., the hotel,airline, entertainment venue, etc.). When the reserved inventory item isa hotel room, the graphical user interface can be configured to displaycheck-in date 1003 and check-out date 1005. The graphical user interfacecan also be configured to display reserved inventory item information(e.g., current room information) and similar inventory item information(e.g., new room information). The similar inventory item could have beendetermined to be similar according to the process described in FIG. 9.For each of the reserved inventory item and the similar inventory item,the graphical user interface can be configured to display pricinginformation (e.g., original pricing information 1007 and new pricinginformation 1009), the online booking agency or service provider used tomake the original reservation (original booking system 1015), the onlinebooking agency or service provider offering the similar inventory item(new booking system 1017), and a listing of select reservationparameters 1019 and select inventory parameters 1021.

FIG. 10B depicts another exemplary graphical user interface fordisplaying a rebooking option, consistent with disclosed embodiments. Asshown in this example, this alternative graphical user interface caninclude reserved inventory indication 1023. Reserved inventoryindication 1023 can be configured to display the name, and potentiallythe address of the service provider (e.g., the hotel, airline,entertainment venue, etc.) for the reserved inventory item. In addition,the graphical user interface can include similar inventory indication1025. Similar inventory indication 1025 can be configured to display thename, and potentially the address of a service provider (e.g., thehotel, airline, entertainment venue, etc.) for an inventory item similarto the reserved inventory item. The similar inventory item could havebeen determined to be similar according to the process described in FIG.9. Though only a single item of similar inventory is depicted in FIG.10B, the graphical user interface could also be configured to showmultiple items of similar inventory.

As would be recognized by one of skill in the art, other graphical userinterfaces in addition to those shown in FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B could beused to communicate rebooking opportunities to the user. Furthermore,the graphical user interface of FIG. 10A could be used to display one ormore similar inventory items provided by a different service provider,while the graphical user interface of FIG. 10B could be used to displayone or more similar inventory items provided by the same serviceprovider. Therefore, the graphical user interfaces depicted in FIG. 10Aand FIG. 10B are not intended to be limiting.

Automated Rebooking

Automated programs that run over the internet (“bots”) are generally nottreated by websites the same way as human users. In general, websiteswill try to limit interactions with bots as this “bot traffic” can beharmful (e.g., bots can perform web scraping, steal content, andmanipulate website analytics) and interactions with bots can divertcomputing resources from more valuable interactions with human users.Therefore companies provide software for automatically detecting andblocking requests from bots (e.g., SHIELDSQUARE and DATADOME botdetection and blocking tools). Online booking agencies and serviceprovider websites can use such software to identify and block requestsfrom bots.

Bot identification and blocking software can interfere with automatedrebooking systems, such as system 100. Online booking agencies andservice provider websites may identify cancellation requests by suchautomated rebooking systems as bot traffic. The online booking agenciesand service provider websites may therefore block such cancellationrequests. Thus software intended to combat harmful bots traffic canhinder user-authorized cancellation requests, interfering with theproper operation of system 100.

The disclosed systems and methods describe an innovativeanti-fingerprinting approach to combatting this internet-centricproblem. Generally, bot traffic can be detected because requestsprovided by bots exhibit similar characteristics. For example, whencontacting a website, web browsers typically provide a “User-Agent”header field containing information about the capabilities of the systemrunning the web browser to the website. As known in the art, this headerfield can include compatibility information (e.g., “Mozilla/5.0”),operating system information describing the operating system running thebrowser (e.g., “Windows NT 6.1”), browser information identifying thebrowser and browser version (e.g., “Safari/602.1”), informationidentifying the computing device type (e.g., “Mobile/14E304”), andpotentially additional information concerning the configuration of therequesting system. Such requests can also include an IP address of therequesting system. A website can use this information to create“fingerprints” of computing devices contacting the website. Requestsfrom a bot targeting a website will typically have similar fingerprints(e. g., similar user agents and IP addresses). For example, suchrequests may exhibit user agents indicating the same browser, browserversion, operating system, device type, or other parameters. Suchrequests may be sent from a limited number of IP addresses. A websitecan use these similarities to identify bots and block bot traffic.

FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary automated cancellationprocess, consistent with disclosed embodiments. This automatedcancellation process provides a technical solution to the problem ofwebsites identifying and blocking cancellation requests as bot traffic.According to this process, rebooking system 110 mimics the human userthat originally made the reservation when providing cancellationrequests to online booking agencies and service providers. In someembodiments, each cancellation request therefore appears to come fromthe human user that originally made the reservation. This reduces theability of the website to identify and block the cancellation request asbot traffic.

In step 1101, rebooking system 110 can create a user identity for auser. The user identity can include personal information for the userand IP address and a device configuration for the computing device ofthe user. In this manner, the user identity associates the user with thecomputing device of the user. In some embodiment, rebooking system 110can create the user identity during a user registration process. Duringthis user registration process, rebooking system 110 can receive thepersonal information from the user and create a fingerprint of thecomputing device of the user. For example, rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to determine the IP address and the device configuration forthe computing device of the user. For example, rebooking system 110 candetermine the device configuration by parsing the “User-Agent” headerfield provided by the computing device of the user. The personalinformation can include information sufficient to uniquely identify theuser to rebooking system 110. As a non-limiting example, the personalinformation can include email address, birthday, phone number, first andlast name, credit card number, mailing address, and similar identifyinginformation. The device configuration can include at least one ofcompatibility information, operating system information, browserinformation, browser version information, and computing device typeinformation. In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 can store theuser identity. Rebooking system 110 can be configured to store the useridentity within rebooking system 110, another component of system 100,or another system that communicates with rebooking system 110 to storeand retrieve user identities. Rebooking system 110 can be configured tostore the user identity as a record in a database. In some embodiments,rebooking system 110 can be configured to store the device configurationas at least one of (i) a text field including at least a portion of the“User-Agent” header field, (ii) a value indicating the “User-Agent”header field (e.g., an integer value, a category value, an enumerateddatatype value, or some other representative value), or (iii) multiplevalues corresponding to different components of the User-Agent headerfield (e.g., values for the operating system, browser, device type,etc.).

In step 1103, rebooking system 110 can receive a rebooking request froma user (e.g., as discussed with regard to step 217 of FIG. 2). Asnon-limiting examples, the user can provide the rebooking request in anemail or instant message. In some embodiments, the rebooking request maynot indicate the configuration information and IP address of thecomputing device of the user.

In step 1105, rebooking system 110 can use the rebooking request and/orreservation parameters to retrieve the stored device configuration.Rebooking system 110 can be configured to retrieve the stored deviceconfiguration from the stored user identity of the user. In someembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to use personalinformation in the rebooking request and/or reservation parameters tolocate the stored user identity of the user. For example, the rebookingrequest can include the email address (when the rebooking request is anemail) or phone number (when the rebooking request is an instantmessage) of the user. As an additional example, the reservationparameters can include the first and last name of the user. In someembodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to use such personalinformation as a key to retrieve the appropriate user identity from adatabase storing user identities.

In step 1107, rebooking system 110 can be configured to create or selecta cancellation device to provide the cancellation request. Thecancellation device can match the retrieved device configuration. Forexample, the cancellation device can have the operating system, browser,and browser version described in the retrieved device configuration.

In some embodiments, the cancellation device can be a virtual machine.This virtual machine can be running on a cloud-based platform (e.g.,SOFTLAYER) configured to run multiple virtual machines according tomethods known to one of skill in the art. In response to the rebookingrequest, rebooking system 110 can be configured to create a virtualmachine matching the retrieved device configuration, or select anexisting virtual machine matching the retrieved device configuration.The platform or the virtual machine can be a component of rebookingsystem 110. In various embodiments, the cancellation device can be acomputing device matching the stored device configuration. For example,when the stored device configuration describes an iPhone 7, thecancellation device can be an iPhone 7. The computing device can be acomponent of rebooking system 110.

Alternatively, for example when a stored device configuration isunavailable, rebooking system 110 can be configured to use acancellation device having a device configuration randomly selected froma distribution of possible device configurations. This distribution ofpossible device configurations can be an observed distribution of deviceconfigurations, as measured by NETMARKETSHARE, STATCOUNTER, or a similarprovider of internet usage statistics.

In step 1109, rebooking system 110 can select a server for proxyingnetwork traffic concerning the cancellation request. The server can be acomponent of rebooking system 110, and can be one of a geographicallydistributed set of proxy servers. For example, the proxy servers can bedistributed individually, or in groups, among multiple cities, states,zip codes, or area codes (e.g., among N cities, states, zip codes, orarea codes, where N is a number less than 500). Rebooking system 110 canbe configured to select the server based on the stored user identity ofthe user. As described above, the stored user identity can include astored IP address of the computing device of the user. In someembodiments, the server can have an IP address resembling the stored IPaddress (e.g., an IP address in a subnet range similar to that of thestored IP address). In various embodiments, rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to select the server based on the geographic location of theserver. For example, rebooking system 110 can be configured to determinea geographic location for the stored IP address, according to methodsknown to one of skill in the art. Rebooking system 110 can be configuredto select the server because the server is geographically located in thesame city, state, zip code, or area code as the geographic location forthe stored IP address. Alternatively, for example when a stored IPaddress is unavailable, rebooking system 110 can be configured to selecta proxy server at random.

In step 1111, rebooking system 110 can execute the cancellation scripton the cancellation device, causing the cancellation device to providethe cancellation request to prior booking system 140. For example, whenthe cancellation device is a virtual machine, rebooking system 110 canbe configured to execute the cancellation script on this virtualmachine. As an additional example, when the cancellation device is acomputing device, rebooking system 110 can be configured to remotelyconnect to the computing device to execute the cancellation script. Invarious embodiments, rebooking system 110 can be configured to proxynetwork traffic concerning the cancellation request through the proxyserver selected in step 1109. In this manner, rebooking system 110 canbe configured to provide a cancellation request to the online bookingagency or service provider that mimics both the configuration and the IPaddress of the computing device of the user.

As would be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the particular orderand arrangement of steps disclosed in FIG. 11 is not intended to belimiting. For example, steps can be re-arranged or combined withoutdeparting from the envisioned embodiments. Steps can be divided intosub-steps that can be performed in a different order, or by othercomponents of system 100. Furthermore, additional steps may be added orsteps may be removed without departing from the envisioned embodiments.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for automaticallycancelling a reservation using a cancellation script, consistent withdisclosed embodiments. In some embodiments, this process includescreating and storing parameterized scripts, and then executing theappropriate script with the appropriate reservation parameters to cancela reservation. In this manner, rebooking system 110 can be configured tosimulate, as a non-limiting example, the series of browser clicks andform entries that a human user would perform to cancel a reservation.

In step 1201, components of system 100, or another system, can generatecancellation macros. For example, these macros can be generated by amobile device, laptop, desktop, workstation, or server independent ofsystem 100 and then later provided to system 100. In some embodiments,human users can create cancellation macros using a browser automationsystem (e.g., Selenium IDE). To create a macro specific to an onlinebooking agency or service provider, the human user can cancel areservation using the website of the online booking agency or serviceprovider. This cancellation process can be recorded using the browserautomation system to create the macro.

In step 1203, a computing device can create a cancellation function byreplacing specific values for one or more reservation parameters in therecorded macro with placeholders. As a non-limiting example, whilecreating the macro, a human user may enter a confirmation number for thereservation being cancelled. The computing device can create thecancellation function by replacing this confirmation number with aconfirmation number placeholder. Another reservation can then becancelled using this cancellation function by replacing the confirmationnumber placeholder with the confirmation number for the otherreservation and then executing the script. In this manner, scripts caneasily be created for automatically cancelling reservations with manydifferent online booking agencies and service providers. Suchcancellation functions can be stored on components of system 100 (e.g.,rebooking system 110), or stored on another system.

In some embodiments, a human user can identify the reservationparameters for replacement. For example, the human user can indicate oneor more reservation parameter/value pairs (e.g., “email”/“w1ll.10.shopping@gmail.com” and “itinerary number” /“7249905397393”).The computing device can then replace instances of the values withplaceholders for the corresponding reservation parameters (e.g., thecomputing device can replace all instances of“w1ll.10.shopping@gmail.com” with a placeholder indicating thereservation parameter “email”).

In step 1205, rebooking system 110 can be configured to retrieve astored cancellation function. Rebooking system 110 can be configured toidentify the correct script based on the reservation email. For example,rebooking system 110 can determine from the reservation email the onlinebooking agency or service provider used to create the reservation.Rebooking system 110 can then retrieve a cancellation function adaptedto this online booking agency or service provider.

In step 1205, rebooking system 110 can parametrize the cancellationfunction to create a cancellation script. Rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to replace placeholders for the reservation parameters suchas email address, reservation number, confirmation code, or any otherreservation parameters required by the cancellation function. Tocontinue the previous example, rebooking system 110 can receive thereservation parameter/value pairs “email” /“john@gmail.com” and“itinerary_number” /“41982389f0421”. Rebooking system 110 can beconfigured to replace the placeholders for “email” in the cancellationfunction with “john@gmail.com” and replace the placeholders for“itinerary_number” in the cancellation function with “41982389f10421.”

Rebooking system 110 can be configured to parametrize the cancellationfunction using reservation parameter/value pairs previously parsed fromthe reservation email, as described above with regard to FIG. 5 (e.g.,rebooking system 110 may have parsed the confirmation number/value pairfrom the reservation email). In some aspects, rebooking system 110 canbe configured to use reservation parameter/value pairs stored in a userprofile (e.g., user email address, home address, credit cardinformation, etc.). Rebooking system 110 can also be configured toreceive additional values or reservation parameter/value pairs from theuser. For example, these additional values and reservationparameter/value pairs can be received in response to a prompt providedby rebooking system 110 to the user.

In step 1207, rebooking system 110 can execute the cancellation scriptto cancel the reservation. In some embodiments, rebooking system 110 canbe configured to combine parametrization and execution into a singlecommand. For example, “Cancellation_Function” can be a variable storingthe name or location of a cancellation function and“Reservation_Parameters” can be a variable storing one or morereservation parameter/value pairs. The command“Playback.execute(Cancellation_Function, Reservation_Parameters)” cancause rebooking system 110 to execute the cancellation function usingthe provided one or more reservation parameter/value pairs.

As would be recognized by one of skill in the art, the systems andmethods described above with regards to FIGS. 11 and 12 are not limitedto performing automated cancellation of reservations. Instead, thedisclosed anti-fingerprinting systems and methods can be generally usedto prevent websites from blocking automated task performance. Ingeneral, as described above, a system can receive a request to performan automated task on behalf of a human user. The request can includeinformation identifying a device configuration of the human user. Insome embodiments the system can determine, the based on the request, theautomated task to perform. For example, based on a reservation email,the system can determine the correct script to use for cancelling thereservation. In some embodiments, the request can include code orinstructions for performing the task. For example, the human user cancreate and upload automated tasks for the system to perform. As anadditional example, the human user can record a macro using a browserautomation system, create a function from the macro, and upload thefunction to the system. The user can subsequently provide a questioncalling the function with any necessary parameters.

In some embodiments, the system can be configured to create or select animitation computing device for performing the automated task, asdescribed above. The system can be configured to proxy traffic for theautomated task through a server. The system can select the serverbecause the server has an IP address similar to that of the human user,as described above. In some embodiments, the computing device and theproxy server can be components of the system. In some embodiments theycan be distinct from the system.

Other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromconsideration of the specification and practice of the disclosedembodiments disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the disclosed embodiments being indicated by the following claims.Furthermore, although aspects of the disclosed embodiments are describedas being associated with data stored in memory and other tangiblecomputer-readable storage mediums, one skilled in the art willappreciate that these aspects can also be stored on and executed frommany types of tangible computer-readable media, such as secondarystorage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks, or CD-ROM, or otherforms of RAM or ROM. Accordingly, the disclosed embodiments are notlimited to the above-described examples, but instead are defined by theappended claims in light of their full scope of equivalents.

Moreover, while illustrative embodiments have been described herein, thescope includes any and all embodiments having equivalent elements,modifications, omissions, combinations (e.g., of aspects across variousembodiments), adaptations or alterations based on the presentdisclosure. The elements in the claims are to be interpreted broadlybased on the language employed in the claims and not limited to examplesdescribed in the present specification or during the prosecution of theapplication, which examples are to be construed as non-exclusive.Further, the steps of the disclosed methods can be modified in anymanner, including by reordering steps or inserting or deleting steps. Itis intended, therefore, that the specification and examples beconsidered as example only, with a true scope and spirit being indicatedby the following claims and their full scope of equivalents.

1. A system for automatically performing cancellation tasks, comprising:at least one processor; and at least one memory containing instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system toperform operations including: generating a cancellation script for aremote website by replacing first cancellation parameters in acancellation macro with placeholders; obtaining an IP address and adevice configuration of a first computing device of a human user;extracting second cancellation parameters using a neural network from afirst email sent to the human user, wherein the neural network istrained to extract cancellation parameters from reservation email code;parameterizing the cancellation script by replacing the placeholderswith the second cancellation parameters; selecting a second computingdevice for imitating the human user based on the device configuration ofthe first computing device; selecting a proxy server based on the IPaddress for the first computing device; and causing the second computingdevice to interact with the remote website according to theparameterized cancellation script through the proxy server.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, the operations further comprising receiving a requestto execute the cancellation script on the remote website, the requestenabling identification of the IP address and the device configurationof the first computing device.
 3. The system of claim 2, the operationsfurther comprising: receiving personal information of the human user;storing a record in a database including the personal information, theIP address information of the first computing device, and the deviceconfiguration information of the first computing device; determining thepersonal information from the request; and retrieving the record fromthe database using the personal information in response to the request.4. The system of claim 3, wherein the request comprises an email fromthe human user and the personal information comprises an email addressof the human user.
 5. The system of claim 3, wherein the requestcomprises a text message from the human user and the personalinformation comprises a phone number of the human user.
 6. The system ofclaim 3, wherein the request includes second computing deviceinstructions for executing the task.
 7. The system of claim 3, whereinthe operations further comprise determining second computing deviceinstructions for executing the task based on the request.
 8. The systemof claim 1, wherein the device configuration of the first computingdevice is obtained from a user-agent header field of the first computingdevice.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the device configuration forthe first computing device comprises operating system information andbrowser information for the first computing device.
 10. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the second computing device comprises a virtual machinehaving the device configuration the first computing device.
 11. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein selecting the second computing devicecomprises creating the virtual machine.
 12. The system of claim 1,wherein the second computing device has the same make and model as thefirst computing device.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein causing thesecond computing device to interact with the remote website using theproxy server to perform the task comprises remotely connecting to thesecond computing device.
 14. The system of claim 1, wherein: theoperations further comprise determining the geographic location of thefirst computing device of the human user based on the IP address for thefirst computing device; and the proxy server is selected based ongeographic proximity to first the computing device.
 15. The system ofclaim 1, wherein an IP address of the proxy server is in the same subnetrange as the IP address of the first computing device.
 16. A method forautomatically performing cancellation tasks comprising: generating acancellation script for a remote website by replacing first cancellationparameters in a cancellation macro with placeholders; during aregistration stage, receiving personal information of a human user,obtaining an IP address and a device configuration for a computingdevice, and storing a record in a database, the record including thepersonal information, the IP address, and the device configuration;extracting second cancellation parameters using a neural network from afirst email sent to the human user, wherein the neural network istrained to extract cancellation parameters from reservation email code:receiving a request to interact with [[a]] the remote website to performa cancellation task, the request including the personal information;retrieving the record from the database using the personal information;creating a virtual machine based on the device configuration;parameterizing the cancellation script by replacing the placeholderswith the second cancellation parameters; selecting a proxy server from ageographically distributed set of proxy servers based on the IP addressfor the computing device and the IP addresses for the set of proxyservers, the selected proxy server being a proxy server of thegeographically distributed set that is closest to the computing device;and executing instructions causing the virtual machine to interact withthe remote website according to the parameterized cancellation scriptthrough the selected proxy server to perform the cancellation task. 17.The method of claim 16, wherein the request comprises an email from thehuman user and the personal information comprises an email address ofthe human user.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the requestcomprises a text message from the human user and the personalinformation comprises a phone number of the human user.
 19. The methodof claim 16, wherein the request includes the instructions.
 20. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the set of proxy servers are geographicallydistributed among multiple cities.